Background on the UNFCCC: The international response to climate change

In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting
climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.

By 1995, countries realized that emission reductions provisions in the Convention were inadequate. They
launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the
Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets. The
Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The second commitment period
began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020.

There are now 195 Parties to the Convention and 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the international climate
change negotiations, particularly the Conference of the Parties (COP), the Conference of the Parties serving
as the meeting of the Parties (CMP), the subsidiary bodies (which advise the COP/CMP), and the COP/CMP Bureau
(which deals mainly with procedural and organizational issues arising from the COP/CMP and also has technical
functions). For a brief depiction of how these various bodies are related to one another, please see
Bodies.

The question of what happens beyond 2020 was answered by Parties in Durban in 2011. For more information on
the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, click
here.

Climate change is a complex problem, which, although environmental in nature, has consequences for all
spheres of existence on our planet. It either impacts on-- or is impacted by-- global issues, including
poverty, economic development, population growth, sustainable development and resource management. It is not
surprising, then, that solutions come from all disciplines and fields of research and development.

At the very heart of the response to climate change, however, lies the need to reduce emissions. In 2010,
governments agreed that emissions need to be reduced so that global temperature increases are limited to
below 2 degrees Celsius.

Climate change in context

This time line detailing the international response to climate change provides a contextual entry point to
the Essential Background. You can also use the links on the left-hand column under Essential Background to
navigate this section.

2013 - Key decisions adopted at COP19/CMP9 include decisions on further advancing the Durban Platform, the
Green Climate Fund and Long-Term Finance, the Warsaw Framework for REDD Plus and the Warsaw
International Mechanism for Loss and Damage. More on
the Warsaw Outcomes.

2001 — Release of IPCC's Third Assessment Report. Bonn Agreements adopted, based on the Buenos
Aires Plan of Action of 1998.
Marrakesh Accords adopted at COP7, detailing rules for implementation of Kyoto Protocol, setting up new
funding and planning instruments for adaptation, and establishing a technology transfer framework.

1992 — The INC adopts UNFCCC text. At the Earth Summit in Rio, the UNFCCC is opened for signature along
with its sister Rio Conventions, UNCBD and UNCCD. More about the two other Rio Conventions: UNCBD and UNCCD.

1990 — IPCC's first assessment report released. IPCC and second World Climate Conference call for a
global treaty on climate change. United Nations General Assembly negotiations on a framework convention
begin.